


The Hogwarts Rebellion

by Lumelle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crack, Floating Hearts, Future Fic, House Neutrality, Inter-House Relationships, M/M, Ravenclaw Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin Albus Severus Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 19:36:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6920278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When someone apparently casts an enchantment upon Hogwarts that causes hearts to float around in the air whenever someone is near a person they have a crush on, it seems like a harmless enough thing.</p><p>Of course, this only holds until it hits a Potter and a Malfoy. After that, things get interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hogwarts Rebellion

**Author's Note:**

> A friend wanted a floaty hearts AU. This is the result.

It was, everyone agreed, something to do with Valentine's Day.

Nobody actually came forth and confessed, for all that Professor Flitwick promised a significant number of House points to whoever could prove they were responsible for the enchantment. It was, after all, a very impressive enchantment, reaching itself over the entire school grounds and affecting everyone living there.

At first, it seemed utterly random, just some floating hearts above the heads of some of the students, some of the time. It wasn't until someone found the pattern — the hearts would only appear when the student in question was near someone they had a crush on, and disappear as distance grew again — that people started to get truly interested in the phenomenon. School was rather disrupted for a number of days as couples were formed out of mutual "floaties", as some of the students called them, while others were crushed upon finding their hearts were, at least at the time, one-sided. The teachers tried their best to keep things somewhat under control, but with a castle full of more or less hormonal teenagers, some things were bound to happen sooner or later. Some of them gave up on the regular teaching schedule, choosing to follow the theme with assignments such as figuring out the exact distance at which the hearts were triggered, or whether the effect could be countered with certain potions or spells.

Then, of course, came the Quidditch match of Slytherin versus Ravenclaw. This would certainly distract everyone from the ever continuing enchantment, the teachers decided, relieved for the small reprieve. Sure, there would be hearts in the audience, but everyone's attention would be more on the field, and nobody was really surprised about the heart situation between the two Ravenclaw Beaters.

This small period of relief came to a premature end as the two Seekers both dove after the Snitch at once, ending up crashing on the ground and, in some part, into each other. Before anyone could be worried about possible injuries, though, a flurry of hearts rose up to the sky in brilliant shades of green and blue as Scorpius Malfoy reached a hand to help Albus Potter up to his feet.

Some would swear that the resulting uproar scared even some of the less pleasant denizens of the Forbidden Forest into fleeing the grounds entirely.

*

"So." Draco Malfoy kept his gaze on the Headmistress, drawing a deep breath before he could go on. If he looked to his side, something unfortunate might happen. "What you are trying to tell me is that my son —"

"Our sons," Potter cut in very unhelpfully indeed.

"Fine, fine, our sons, have instigated a revolt and claimed half the castle as a neutral territory?" Yes, he had been listening. He just wasn't entirely sure he was hearing right.

"Well. It's really only a quarter." Minerva McGonagall looked as prim and proper as she ever did. "But yes, that is more or less the gist of it."

"And they did this why?" Potter was again cutting in before Draco could speak. "I mean — they must have had a reason, right?"

"It's… an enchantment, I'm afraid. No, not like that!" Minerva hurried to add as Draco frowned and Potter no doubt reflected his expression. "Their minds aren't affected in any way! It's just… well. We have had some, ah, privacy issues."

"Privacy issues?" Potter sounded disbelieving. "What, like teachers spying on students?"

"Not quite." Minerva adjusted her glasses. "Just… there is this enchantment that seems to reveal, ah, fond feelings. That certain students have for each other."

"Go on." Draco was quite certain he had never sounded so dangerous in his life. And he had tried to be a Death Eater.

"This enchantment came to play in the middle of a Quidditch match." Of course. Quidditch matches were the absolute worst place for anything to happen, with everyone there and already excited and aggressive. "You can imagine there might have been some, ah, reactions when it turned out in the middle of a match that the Ravenclaw Seeker apparently had a rather deep attraction for the Slytherin Seeker. And vice versa."

Draco froze. Then, with great effort, he finally turned his head to the side, meeting Potter's gaze. "Scorpius is the Seeker for Ravenclaw."

"And Albus is the Seeker for Slytherin." Potter paused, looking just about as disturbed as Draco no doubt did. "And — I'm guessing others didn't react well?"

"You could say that." Minerva sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "As a result, there was some, ah, I might even call it rioting."

"And what did Albus and Ma- ah, Scorpius do then?" How could Potter possibly sound so patient?

"The two of them fled to the castle, closed off a section, and declared it house-neutral territory. Since then, they have been allowing inside people who promise to disavow any house affiliation, as well as steadily increasing their claimed territory. It has been a week now."

"A week?" Draco echoed. "And — how exactly is this still going on?"

"It seems some of the house elves are sympathetic to their cause, providing them with food," Minerva explained. "Also, they, ah, may have possibly staked their first claim around the Room of Requirement."

"Of course they did." He should have known better than to tell such stories to Scorpius. "I thought it was inaccessible, though?" What with the fire and all.

"It could have repaired itself since then." Potter shook his head. "So. How bad is it?"

"According to our records, there are now a hundred and seventeen students in the separated area. The numbers have been increasing at a rapid rate, though. It was mostly Slytherins and Ravenclaws at first, while Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors seem to be joining as groups. Of course, there are also a number of cross-house couples who feel they have also faced discrimination."

"Couples." Draco wasn't sure he could entirely convey his disbelief through voice and expression alone, but he was damn well going to try. "You're calling them a couple."

"Mister Malfoy, they have effectively seceded from the school rather than be separated. I think we can safely use that word."

"And what do you want us to do?" Potter sighed. "Because I'm sorry, but I'm not going to try to force them to give this up, no matter how much trouble they are in." Gryffindors. Always so bloody honourable, and not giving a damn about the rules.

"I'm not helping either." As much as it pained him to hear anyone claim that his sweet little boy might have feelings for a — a Potter. "If Scorpius has decided he is not safe in the general school, I'm sure he has a reason." Would Durmstrang accept transfers in the middle of the year? He'd heard it could be cold there, but it would hardly be worse than facing angry mobs.

"Oh, no, they are not in trouble at all!" Wait, what? "You see, the school rules about revolts have been greatly relaxed since the time you were attending. We figured that if there is another case of bad leadership or problematic teachers, the students should have the chance to defend themselves without fearing retribution once the undesirable administration has been cleared away."

"So… this is fine, then?" Potter sounded about as bewildered as Draco felt.

"Oh, quite! They sent out an official missive the first day, actually, citing various cases from the history of Hogwarts and its rules. They are claiming that their actions are targeted against the house system and the unfair pressures and favouritism it encourages. I must say, it was a very well thought-out piece of writing, with full references, too. And the spells they use for closing off their territory are extremely impressive for such young wizards! Several of our teachers are considering giving them extra credit for this."

"What's the problem, then?" Because like hell was Draco going to let Potter get any more words in. "If they are not in trouble, why would you call us here?"

"We were hoping you would convince them of the same. After all, while this may not be against the rules, you can imagine it is quite disruptive to regular class schedules. Perhaps if the two of you tell them there will be no consequences, we could return to something approaching normalcy around here."

"I'm seeing a problem there." Draco lifted his eyebrows. "If they started this to get rid of House affiliations that led to people trying to separate them, and demand the same of anyone who joins them, do you really think they will just go back to normal classes and dorms, all separated by house? Even if this little stunt of this made others stop bothering them, they would still be the exception, not the rule. My son's not an idiot, and I'd like to think he wouldn't fall for an idiot, either. If they are willing to go this far, they will not be giving up so easily."

"I'm afraid I agree," Potter said, and the world must have really been nearing its end. "And, frankly, I understand them. I might not have gone quite as far, but I think we've all seen that the house separation and the attitudes involved can cause a lot of harm."

"Yes, well, since they have all declared separation from their houses, we are willing to offer them all a chance to be re-Sorted —"

"I don't think you understand." Draco put on his best politician smile, the one good thing he had ever learnt from his father. "They do not want to be re-Sorted, they do not want to be separated along different lines than before. They don't want to have Houses. They don't want anyone telling them who they can or cannot be with, who they can or cannot be, based on what some stupid old hat says when they were eleven, or when they are sixteen. Do you know why Scorpius is the first Ravenclaw in my family for generations? Because he begged the damn Hat not to put him in Slytherin because people would call him evil." His poor, sensitive little boy, who had sounded so fearful when he wrote home to Draco to tell him about his Sorting.

"Albus was afraid of ending up in Slytherin as well," Potter added. "I know that's where he finally went, but it wasn't easy for him. And it's not just other students who are prejudiced, it's the teachers as well. And I'm not just speaking of Professor Snape." His eyes were sharper than Draco could remember seeing them since the war as he looked at Minerva. "They don't want to be re-Sorted, Minerva. They want to attend a school as Hogwarts students, not as Slytherins and Ravenclaws and Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. And until you can promise them that, I don't think anything we do will help."

"But it's tradition!" Minerva looked absolutely flabbergasted. "Hogwarts has had Houses since its founding!"

"Then perhaps it's about time to change some things." Potter stood up from his seat, smoothing out his robes. "Coming, Malfoy? I was thinking I would stop by Hogsmeade before returning home, pick up some things to send to the boys. I doubt they have much in the way of sweets and such."

"That sounds like an excellent plan, Potter. Merlin knows I wouldn't be staying true to the family tradition if I didn't encourage a little rebellion against authorities." Draco stood up as well, then paused. "So what about that enchantment? The one that started all this? Has it been taken care of yet?"

"Not quite, I'm afraid," Minerva said, perhaps a bit more snappish than was entirely polite. Draco supposed they deserved it at this point, though. "It seems limited to the range of the castle grounds, though. It becomes active on anyone who enters after a small delay, and dissipates soon after they leave."

"A small delay, huh?" Potter lifted his eyebrows. "Approximately how long?"

"Oh, I don't know." Minerva sniffed, a prim little sound, and pinched her lips. "Approximately how long has it been since you arrived?"

Draco paused. Then he looked at Potter. There were tiny hearts dancing above his head.

He craned his head up. Some more hearts.

"Well." He was the first one to speak, because damn it, they weren't eleven anymore. They were both grown men, with jobs and families and ex-wives, and he supposed they might as well lead by example. "After we've picked up some treats for the kids, how about we go somewhere to continue our discussion on, ah… house unity?"

"Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea." Potter's — Harry's — eyes were a brilliant green, and the smile on his face was very nearly frightening.

Let it be. Draco hadn't survived a war for nothing.

*

The front page of the Prophet was focused on the "Rebellion of Hogwarts", with the inside pages holding a rather sharp opinion piece calling for the complete abolishment of the House system as an archaic remnant of a less civilised age. Draco blinked at the front page picture — it was from a Quidditch field, with Scorpius helping the younger Potter boy up to his feet, with hearts floating above their heads — then looked over at his bed. Somewhere under the covers, a large lump stirred.

"Your doing, I presume?" Draco lifted the paper for Harry to see as he finally emerged, a mop of messy dark hair very nearly concealing his face.

"Hermione's, actually." Harry yawned, stretching some really fine arms. It was good to know being an Auror hadn't softened him. Not that Draco hadn't noticed it last night. "She still has some, ah, influence over Skeeter. I called her yesterday while we were in Hogsmeade."

Draco frowned. "Called?"

"With a cell phone. Good old Muggle invention, lets you call others over distances without fireplaces and such. Very useful. You should get one."

Draco was about to snap back — obviously he wasn't going to get any sort of a Muggle device, that was just absurd — then paused to think. Here he was, standing in the master bedroom of Malfoy Manor, with Harry Potter more or less naked under his covers, holding a paper that detailed his son's efforts to destroy millennial power structures just so nobody would look at him weird because of the boy he wanted to date.

"You know," he said, rather enjoying the way Harry's sleepy eyes widened, "maybe I just might."

*

(Really, nobody was overly surprised when it turned out Rose Weasley had cast the initial enchantment to, in her words, "make Albus and Scorpius finally get their heads out of their asses and do something about it".

It was unanimously decided that they had, in fact, done something about it. Professor Flitwick despaired at not being able to keep his promise, seeing how Rose had been one of the first to give up her House affiliation, and finally just nominated her for an award for Especially Astounding Research, or E.A.R..

It was also almost unanimously decided that, no, "get your head out of your ass and do something about it" should not be the official motto of the ever growing section of Hogwarts student body that refused any House affiliation, though only because it was a bit long and clunky.)


End file.
